George Washburne edited the Wine and Spirits Review, a pre-Prohibition trade journal. His style was assured, intimate, confidential. The same tone informs Beverages Deluxe, a coffee-table book edited by Washburne, with Stanley Bronner.
The book was probably a (literal) gift to his accounts who advertised in the journal. It canvassed many of the world’s great drinks. While puff-piece in nature, still it conveys excellent, on-point information. The chapters were written by distillers or others with long experience in the spirits market.
Bourbon is not omitted of course, since the Review was based in Louisville – bourbon-central, then and now.
The extracts I include below offer as good a short history of bourbon as I know. The writer, George Brown, was a principal of Brown-Forman Company, long reputed for quality bourbon and still a major force in American whiskey.
Also shown is a period photo of Old Forester Bourbon, vintage 1911. As depicted it was, at least up to National Prohibition, a blend of (straight) “old Kentucky whiskies”. This shows one historical example of what I long advocated in the forum of www.straightbourbon.com, that an intelligent combination of straight whiskeys can produce a superbly flavoured and balanced drink.
Numerous commercial examples have appeared on the market with the flourishing of the whiskey revival. The point being it is an old American practice, not a recent innovation, much less a stop-gap method.
But as to bourbon history, when all is said and done – all the good work factored of our bourbon historians past and present – these words of one “who was there” are well worth pondering.
His comment that the Kentucky grain mash started as all-corn is of good interest among many other points.
Note re images: the images shown are from the book Beverages DeLuxe, linked in the text above, via HathiTrust. All intellectual property therein belongs solely to the lawful owner, as applicable. Images used for educational and historical purposes. All feedback welcomed.